The Use of Stagecraft in "Our Town"

Summary: Thornton Wilder's use of stagecraft in "Our Town" is a departure from the conventions of his time.

Thornton Wilder's play, Our Town, gained popularity and recognition when it opened in Broadway in February 4, 1938, at the Henry Miller Theatre. Our Town is the play that blazed a trail in imaginative stagecraft, different from many other American plays in the 1930s. Stagecraft is defined as the skill in or the art of writing, adapting or staging plays. My thesis would be based mainly on the setting, cast and plot of the play.

The setting of Our Town was very radical for the 1930s. The stage in Our Town was bare, using only an occasional chair or stool. We can see this from, "Stage Directions: No scenery ... a table and three chair downstage left, and a table and three chairs downstage right ... low bench" in ACT I Our Town. As compared to the setting of A Streetcar named Desire by Tennessee Williams which had a "brown river" in...